A Loner, Beginning his Training With Just his Teacher

---

TLN: The English spellings for Yuuma and Yuuna are very similar. Just keep in mind not to mix the two characters up.

---

Does everyone like the morning? Me? I neither like nor dislike it. However, I hear from everyone that they’re not morning people. So, I suppose that everyone dislikes it, but…huh? Why am I suddenly talking about the morning? Well…let’s see…right now I’m huddled inside a futon, and there’s something noisy going on outside so I’m plugging my ears, hoping for this noisy thing to quickly go away. But, I know that this thing won’t completely go away. That’s because I know what this noisy thing is…it’s this meddling guy who won’t leave…

“I know what you’re thinking, Shun.”

“Huh…?!”

Yuuma, who was on the side of Shun’s bed, hit the mark.

“Here, get up. Look, I’m already up so get out of that futon.”

“N, no! I’ve decided as a rule that starting from this morning, I’ll only get up to a young woman’s voice!”

Since I came to another world…this is something I won’t back down on…

“Give up on such a rule!”

“N-O W-A-Y!”

“You’re being childish!”

“I am a child~! I’m not twenty years old yet~!”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s not split any hairs. Look, quickly get out of the futon, okay~?”

“I’m not splitting hairs~! It’s true~! Yuuma, are you perhaps…an idiot?”

“You little…!”

Yuuma worked to drag out Shun, who wasn’t leaving his futon, but Shun was frantically resisting, and could not be easily pulled out.

However, Yuuma was not vexed about the situation, and on the contrary had a calm smile, upon which the person next to him spoke,

“Ah~ aren’t you acting recklessly? Yuuma?”

Wha…

Upon hearing those words directed towards Yuuma, Shun’s movements clearly stopped.

“───Heh heh…Kondou is quite childish, isn’t he?”

“What?!”

Hearing a familiar voice, Shun promptly got out of the futon and turned his line of sight towards the source of the voice.

Yuuna, having keen eyes and a ponytail drifting through the air with an ever-lively aura, laughed while holding her hand over her mouth.

“W, why is Asakura here…?!”

Yuuna gave a wry smile towards those words.

“Oh? Am I perhaps a hindrance?”

“No, you’re welcome here, but why are you at my room this early in the morning?”

Yuuna smiled and pointed at Yuuma while saying something,

“Well, a while ago I saw Yuuma in front of the room, who invited me to wake you up with him, and I thought it’d be fun…”

“Ah, I see, wait, Yuuma……don’t tell me you planned this out?!”

“Actually, you’d be right.”

“My apologies…I intended to accept his offer as a joke, but I couldn’t help but drag myself along after he made such a gratified expression…”

“Okay, okay. Anyways, let’s hurry and eat breakfast.”

Yuuma said so while ignoring Shun’s words and left the room.

“*sigh*…Asakura. Please forget what happened a while ago…”

“No no, that’s impossible.”

“That would be the case, wouldn’t it.”

After another sigh, Shun got out of his bed, began changing his clothes, told Yuuna to leave by saying “Asakura, I’m going to change my clothes,” and as soon as Yuuna closed the door, he then finished changing.

“Alright…then it’s time to go.”

Shun did some stretches then left the room.

▣ ▣ ▣ ▣ ▣ ▣

“These are the people who were transported here…?”

“Indeed…”

At around 10:00 am, there was a person at the corner of a tower using the window to look at the thirty people transported here who were gathering outside.

The person standing before the window in a dignified manner looked at them and laughed scornfully.

“I heard that they were strong people, but it seems that’s not the case…so for just this much, ten knights should suffice.”

Towards the prince who said those words, the head of knights・Athrel kneeled down behind the him and quietly spoke,

“Prince Saele, you can certainly say that at this point in time, but───”

“───Are you talking back to me?”

Saele interrupted what Athrel was going to say and glared at him.

“…No, my sincere apologies.”

“Hmph, it’d be good if you had behaved yourself from the beginning…whatever. Step back.”

“Yes…”

With those words, Athrel quietly walked away.

Once Saele saw that, he once again gazed at the window and this time, he had a bold smile.

“People from another world…treading upon this sacred castle in our proud kingdom of Granbelle…I shall personally crush them myself.”

The Swords of Legend…I’ve decided that I’ll take them all.

While looking at the shining blade of a sharp, ancient longsword, Saele muttered “All hindrances will be punished…” and left the room.

▣ ▣ ▣ ▣ ▣ ▣

Meanwhile, the people transported here finished eating another luxurious breakfast, and gathered one after another at the training grounds to meet.

Everyone was going to undergo battle training, and the boys were restless while many of the girls who were still sleepy sighed while going ‘What are they so worked up about…?’ when looking at the boys.

Shun was also one of the people being sighed at.

“Alright! It’s here! This is where my talent will bloom♪ Then I’ll be on a game-like journey to find the ‘legendary weapons,’ the Swords of Legend!”

“O, oh…well, I understand your feelings, but can you calm down?”

“Zip it, pipsqueak! Have you got the power to save the world?”

“Well, if I didn’t have the power to save it, I wouldn’t be called here in the first place…”

As seen, Shun was feeling uplifted.

It was becoming troublesome for Yuuma to adapt to Shun, who was in such a state.

“Shun…come to think of it, on the matter of skills───”

“────……(*collapse*)”

“H, hey what happened?”

“……”

Yuuma tried bringing up the topic of innate skills, which was on his mind, but Shun, who he was talking to, suddenly turned dejected to the point of he could not compare to how he was before.

“Shun…?”

“…”

Yuuma suddenly remembered and understood why Shun was feeling dejected now.

Skills…and being dejected…so perhaps

“Ah…”

Once Yuuma sensed what was going on and made a voice, Shun raised his head.

“Don’t say…anything more, okay?”

While having vacant eyes, he let out an ominous smile.

Yuuma gave a bitter smile and felt pity for Shun.

“Well…don’t worry about it.”

Yuuma patted Shun’s shoulder.

“…Alright, I’m leaving this table, okay?”

He was getting angry at Shun.

Upon doing such a thing───

“───Everyone gather together.”

The mentors appeared at the training grounds with Athrel in the lead.

Everyone gathered, and due to habit, lined up in order of height like in school.

Seeing thirty people line up neatly in a row in just thirty seconds, Athrel was impressed and went “Whoa…”

“───Now then, I’ll explain our plans for what will happen.”

So, Athrel explained.

First was to divide according to whichever teacher in charge of their profession, then after training the basics for four hours, they’ll eat lunch for a bit, and afterwards study about this world for two hours. Then there was free time, bathing, dinner, sleeping, and so on.

“So, we will go with this schedule daily for one month. Once that month is over, you will spend another month acquiring various skills. Through genuine battles, you’ll polish up on your techniques, and after that I hope you can train your abilities in your own special way.”

Everyone deeply nodded their head towards Athrel’s words.

“Alright, then let’s begin.”

With those orders, the mentors called out the professions they were in charge of, and the people corresponding to those professions ran up to join their mentors.

“…It began.”

I’m a bit nervous…

At that moment, Shun had made a fist with his right hand and stared at it alone.

This…RPG-game world holds unknown terrors…but that’s not a bad thing.

Shun’s name was called out from behind,

“───Shun, how about we get going?”

Looking back towards the direction of that voice, there was Alicia, smiling with a hand holding down her scarlet hair that was drifting through the wind.

Now then…

“Sure thing! Teacher!”

 

───So how about I get stronger?

 

Shun and Alicia left the training grounds by themselves.

 

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

Shun, who was excited, arrived with Alicia at a large mountain which was a bit away from the kingdom.

The mountain was surrounded by a forest, vegetation was everywhere. Furthermore, the large trees were big enough to easily surpass a diameter of fifty centimeters, and there was no way to travel in a straight path without having to avoid the trees blocking the way.

Shun and Alicia went to the mountain, where there was only vegetation, to train.

“Now then, let’s start with a mock battle.”

“Huh…?”

“During the mock battle, I’ll look at your movements and determine what types of things to correct.”

“Is, is that so…?”

“You should use this.”

Alicia held out a common longsword used by knights.

“Okay…”

“Now get ready.”

“U, um…don’t go too hard me.”

“I know…look, you don’t have to hold back so come at me.”

“Right…! H, here I come───!”

Shun kicked the ground, closed the distance in a short amount of time, and swung the sword downwards towards Alicia with all his strength.

“You’ve got good legs.”

While saying that, she received the sword that Shun swung downwards towards her side, swept her sword diagonally with light movements sort as if to absorb the shock, and let it his sword slip down.

“Wha?!”

Since his sword was warded off, his center of gravity that he had before now collapsed.

Alicia did not miss that ideal opportunity, swept at Shun’s toppling legs to make him completely fall over, and held her sword against his neck.

“Alright, your loss, Shun.”

“It, it’s only natural…that I’d suffer defeat!”

“Heh heh…”

Alicia laughed while retracting her sword and held out her hand towards Shun, who had fallen over on his back.

“Heh…”

Shun grabbed that hand, and let Alicia, who was still laughing, pull him up.

“So, what did you find?”

“Let’s see…you’re not good at anything other than your feet.”

“That would be the case, wouldn’t itー…”

“That’s why we’re training, right?”

With those words, Shun smiled bitterly.

“…Right!”

Afterwards───

 

“────……”

“Look, your swinging speed is slowing down! Be quick!”

He grasped the longsword tightly with both hands.

He straightened his back, raised his arms over his head, swung down, and repeated this process.

“Your swordsmanship is loosening! You won’t be able to slice anything that should otherwise be able to be cut!”

“Guh…right!”

He had been continuously practicing his swinging since the mock battle.

…My arms hurts…my back hurts…my hands hurt…my fingers too…

Bearing the pain that he could tell was approaching his limits, he single-mindedly kept swinging.

“Now just keep going…just for a bit longer.”

“Guh! Hmph…! Haa!”

───Then

“Alright, that’s enough for today.”

“Gah……”

Shun spontaneously collapsed on the spot.

“My hands have…already lost their strength…”

It hurts all over…that swinging practice was intense…

“Good work…Shun.”

She spoke to Shun with a gentle voice.

Shun intentionally gazed at Alicia.

“…”

Being stared at, Alicia’s cheeks turned a little red and she said “Don’t look so much…” in an unsteady voice.

“A, aah sorry…Teacher.”

“O, okay.”

“…”  “…”

A brief silence ensued.

Shun stared at Alicia, with her cheeks blushed, then also became embarrassed himself with blushed cheeks.

With both of their eyes cast downwards, Shun was the first to speak,

“H, how about we head back…?”

“Right…then, shall we go?”

With those words, the two returned to the kingdom through the route they had used before.

“…”  “…”

While the two still had their eyes cast downwards as they walked, the distance between their shoulders shortened, though they didn’t know that.

───Thus, Shun and Alicia’s training began.

---

[Previous] [TOC] [Next]

Follow 2Slow2Late MTL on WordPress.com